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If a recipe says "untested"...

We want to post scans of all the original recipes so everyone in our family can enjoy them even if we haven't gotten around to testing each one in our modern kitchen. As we test each recipe, we will add our notes and photos to the recipes we do test and remove the note "untested" in the title. If you make one of the untested recipes, take a photo of the finished product and send us a note to let us know of your experience so we may include those in the recipes as well.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Mother's Spice Cake

This recipe is written in Grammy's handwriting and attributed to her mother, El.

The sour milk ingredient in this recipe was common in recipe in the early 20th century. It was a way to use milk that had gone sour and not waste it. To "artificially" sour milk, add vinegar to it (e.g., 1 tablespoon of vinegar added to 2 cups of milk).

Ingredients:

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon chocolate

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cloves

1 cup salad oil

2 cups raisins

2 cups sour milk

2 cups sugar

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together

Bake in a moderate oven

This is of the few recipes in the recipe box that I recognize as possibly being a favorite that was passed down to my mom and made many times as I was growing up. It was a family favorite. My mom made this in a bundt pan and then iced it with a simple powdered sugar drippy icing. Sometimes she omitted the raisins. It is delicious either way.

Here the recipe my mom has always used:

Ingredients:

4 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup cocoa

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sour milk (add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to regular milk to make it sour)